If there is one thing mass effect‘s Commander Shepard deserves a goddamn rest.
Flavor text for a promotional product, e.g discovered by a YouTuberShe sent fans in a sparkling from speculation that the galactic hero would return in a new adventure. But the project manager of the fan-favorite role-playing series quickly put an end to the rumours, to which I can only say: good. Bringing Shepard back is a terrible idea.
Although the most important mass effect trilogy culminated in 2012 – and its sequel, Mass Effect: Andromeda, received mediocre reviews five years later – BioWare’s groundbreaking series of bang-an-extraterrestrial RPGs is in the midst of a resurgence. The developer teased the “next mass effectat the Game Awards 2020. Although the details are slim, it is pretends to connect the threads between Andromeda and the core trilogy. That announcement was followed by last year’s Mass Effect Legendary Editiona 4K remastered compilation of the original trilogy, plus approximately 99.99% of its DLC, resurfacing its operatic narrative in the cultural consciousness.
And if there’s one thing that drove our reps together home – ah, sorry, one second…
Spoilers for follow Mass Effect 310 years old this year.
Hm. Like I said, if there’s one thing our replays together have made clear, it’s that Commander Shepard’s story comes to a definitive end. For many, that means Shepard might hit that most Final ending: death.
Most Mass Effect 3The story of Commander Shepard focuses on Commander Shepard’s last-ditch effort to defeat the encroaching army of the Reapers, a collective of sentient machines that roam the galaxy every 50,000 years, wiping out all trace of moderately intelligent life. At the end of Mass Effect 3although there are different endings, you are given a wide range of choices how to defeat the threat.
One choice allowed you to destroy all synthetic life in the galaxy, including the Reapers. Another allowed you to subsume them under your control. A third, only available if you’ve done enough side quests, gave you the ability to fuse all synthetic and organic life together. (DLC post-release infamously added a fourth possible ending, allowing you to simply blow up the catalyst and doom the galaxy to death.) All are available in Legendary Edition, and all feature Commander Shepard making the ultimate sacrifice (you know, death). But if you do manage to get a maximum “Military Readiness” score – which means you’ve basically done all the side quests and the gathering athons – you’ll see a cutscene where Shepard takes a single breath.
Since then deleted text for an N7 day Poster sold in the BioWare store suggested that the elusive 3.4-second film was canon. (N7 Day is BioWare’s annual fan fest of the mass effect Series.) As already mentioned in a recent video from Mr. Hulthena YouTuber specializing in cover art mass effectthe flavor text initially read, “As Shepard and the survivors pick up the pieces, fans wonder what’s next.”
This text has been edited – see if you can tell the difference – to “The reaper menace could have been ended, but at a great cost, including the Earth itself. While the survivors must pick up the shards, fans wonder what’s next.” And currently, the product page of the poster contains no reference to action details regarding mass effect.
Representative for EA that publishes mass effectShe did not respond to a request for comment. Mike Gamble, mass effectproject leader of , said on Twitter that the original text mentioning Shepard’s survival was published in error. But if it’s even the slightest hint of what’s coming next mass effect goes, the possible effects are startling, to say the least.
I mean, if Commander Shepard really is making a comeback, does that mean time travel is involved? After all, if this new game is to connect Andromedawhich takes place six centuries after the events of the main trilogy, the narrative would have to do something to bridge the gape the gap in time. Or, oh, maybe there’s a multiverse thing, though I certainly hope not; We’re already at the peak of cultural multiverse exhaustion, and I can’t imagine that sentiment abating until next time mass effect comes out. (The next game has no name or release date.)
Given that we know next to nothing about the next game’s plot at this point, it’s arguably impossible to rule out the laziest of worlds: that Shepard actually survived, either in a white-hot flash of celestial blue light or in a decaying one to become glowing flash of celestial red light or disintegrate in an Incaflashes of heavenly green light, or, ahem, trampled underfoot by a timeless species of intergalactic machines powerful enough to level cities.
Continue reading: Everyone makes the same decisions in mass effectApparently
But all speculation is ultimately irrelevant. The return of Commander Shepard would likely be a disappointment to fans – it would essentially do away with the entire thrust of the original trilogy, whose appeal was making tough choices at key moments in the narrative, living with the consequences, and seeing the ramifications until the final. This finale was damn final. Fans have had a decade to mature it. There is no reason to rewrite this story.
Also, come on, if there’s a supposedly dead character that should make a comeback, it’s not the good commander (who seriously deserved some peace and quiet 10 times again). It’s Thane.
